The anti-Israel is using the left-wing oriented Avaaz web platform to petition Facebook to ban promotions for homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria based on the claim they are “illegal.”

A Facebook representative told The Washington Post it is “investigating” the claim.

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Several promotions on Facebook are sponsored by the Israeli branch of the American real estate company RE/MAX.

“For Palestinians, seeing settlement ads is a reminder of the pain and humiliation they have to endure as a result of these war crimes,” Fadi Quran, Avaaz’s campaign director in the West Bank, said in a statement.

Facebook’s policy prohibits advertising of illegal activity.

The question boils down to whether there is a case that it is illegal for Jews to live in Judea and Samaria as stated, but not decided in any court, by the United Nations and most of the international community.

A committee of three legal experts tabled a report to the Netanyahu government three years ago that not only are “settlements” legal but also that Jews have the right to live anywhere they want in all areas under Israel control.

Israel has passed legislation to put under its sovereignty some areas under Israeli control since the Six-Day War in 1967, namely the Golan Heights and half of Jerusalem, but the United Nations does not accept the Israeli law. Judea and Samaria remain under the authority of the military.

A Washington Post foreign affairs reporters’ article on the petition noted that Facebook previously has banned all advertisements that were in support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

If ads for Assad, guilty of war crimes, are banned by Facebook, the implicit and ludicrous conclusion is that promoting homes for Jews should be banned because the Palestinian Authority calls them “war crimes.”

That explains the sudden shift in the Palestinian Authority strategy to accuse Israel of war crimes in the International Criminal Court. Instead of trying to prove Israel committed war crimes against Hamas, whose inhumanity easily could be exposed , PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas is headed for the ICC with a sheaf of documents to claim that building homes for Jews are war crimes.

Supporters of the anti-Israeli petition wrote to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg:

We were shocked to see ads for illegal Israeli settlements on Facebook. The establishment and expansion of settlements is considered a war crime.

Settlements are a main cause of violence and discrimination in the region. Facebook’s advertising guidelines state that “Ads may not constitute, facilitate or promote illegal activity.” We therefore call upon you to ban all advertisements for settlement homes or settlement based products from showing on Facebook.”

Nearly 30,000 people have signed the petition, and that number is likely to grow geometrically following the free promotion for the petition provided by The Washington Post.

Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu is a graduate in journalism and economics from The George Washington University. He has worked as a cub reporter in rural Virginia and as senior copy editor for major Canadian metropolitan dailies. Tzvi wrote for Arutz Sheva for several years before joining the Jewish Press.

4 COMMENTS

Yes yes yes ban ads on your own site… Remember, you are Jewish, you have no rights….. Nah come on now…. It’s ok for them to spread their antisemitism hatred filled faces off on FB.. As long as the Jewish people are kept quiet. Have no say. Don’t breathe. Bow to the god of Muslims, Mohammad. We will get on just fine….

The only war crimes is from the arab countries waging the wars and leaving their own children to starve or become orphans then rely heavily on charitable organisations to pick up the pieces. Instead of feeding their kids they prefer to buy armaments to continue to make their lives misery. Even most of the money received does not get to the displaced families, it either lines the pockets of the mogels or pays for more rockets etc. After the Gaza/Israel conflict, again they put out the begging bowl for foreigners to rebuild their regions, if they cared so much they wouldn't have started the war in the first place. It is them who are squatters…!